The present invention relates to conveyors and more particularly to rotary conveyors for totes.
Several types of conveyors operate in a loop in a way that conveys the objects while maintaining the conveying surface in a horizontal or upright orientation. For example, several types of vertical carousels operate on a belt or chain that maintain the horizontal orientation of the shelves. In a typical vertical carousel installation, a control system positions the desired shelf at its desired position for accessing by a person or robot.
In other environments, objects are conveyed on horizontal conveyors in open-topped containers, one type of which is referred to as a tote. For example, a person or robot can pick one or more items from a shelf or pod and place the item in a tote for further transport and processing. The system typically is controlled by scanning a code on the item such that a code on the tote that corresponds to the code on the item. The tote containing the item is then pushed onto a conveyor for additional processing.